Ashes on My Tongue
by Nemesis dan Impyrean
Summary: Ever since the addition of their youngest member, the Guardians have been guilty about his 300 years of solitude. So North tries to get them together, but the meeting dissolves into playful banter, and they end up eating dinner. The first all five have had together. Jack refuses to eat. Sandy eventually gets the truth - well, some of it - from him. It has to do with faeries?
1. Chapter 1

"Alright North, so why'd you gather us all? Easter is right around the corner!"

North laughed. "Ah, but Easter is not Christmas."

Ignoring Bunny's outraged cry, North rubbed his hands together. "Let us begin."

Tooth fluttered up to him. "North! We have to wait for Jack!"

"That is what meeting is about, Tooth," North said. "Have any of you seen him?"

They all looked at him in confusion. "Well… not since we defeated Pitch," Tooth admitted. She turned to the Sandman. "Sandy?"

The Guardian shook his head. They all turned to Bunny. It took him a moment to notice, as he had gone back to painting one of his eggs.

"What? Why would I wanna see that troublemaker?"

"I'll take that as no," North sighed.

Tooth asked worriedly, "Why do you ask? What's wrong? Is Jack hurt?"

"I don't know!" North said. "This is problem. Jack is Guardian, yet he does not act like one! He does same things as before."

"I never wanted him in the first place," Bunny pointed out.

North sighed. "Not what I said. He is good Guardian, but he does not… sdelat' bol'she, do more!"

Sandy formed a question mark.

"What I mean is, we need to get closer." North emphasized his last few words.

"What, like get to know him?" Bunny said incredulously. "Come on, North. It's not like we were buddy-buddy before Jack came around. Why now?"

"Because he is child!"

"He's a bloody 300 year old teenager!" Bunny burst out.

"And who took care of him those 300 years?" North thundered, his patience waning.

There was sudden silence as their youngest member's time alone was mentioned.

Finally Tooth spoke up, "So… should we try find him?"

A loud jingling interrupted them. They turned to see Sandy holding an elf. When he had their attention, he formed a snowflake, then an arrow pointing at himself.

"You can find him?" Bunny said.

Sandy nodded, forming a crescent moon.

"Man in Moon?" North said, confused.

Sandy shook his head, adding some stars around the moon.

"Oh! Nighttime!" Tooth exclaimed.

The Guardian nodded.

"Then we leave that to you," North said, obviously relieved. "In meantime, we eat cookies?"

"North!" Tooth complained. "Shouldn't we go with him?"

"But cookies!"

* * *

"Hey Sandy!"

The Sandman turned, seeing the lithe figure approach his cloud of dreamsand. Sandy waved, inviting Jack closer.

Jack grinned. He traced some of the floating tendrils of sand as he passed, evoking the dreams of the children. "Nice job tonight," the boy commented, sitting on the cloud. "How did the meeting go?"

Instead of answering, Sandy formed a question mark.

"Why did I not go?" Jack correctly interpreted.

At Sandy's nod, he shrugged. "I doubt I was needed. What do you guys talk about, anyway?"

Sandy hesitated at Jack's casual dismissal before letting it go. Instead, he formed images of Jack.

"...You guys were talking about me? I guess I should've been there." Jack started to laughed. "Was there no crisis this time, either?"

Sandy frowned. He formed a compass pointing North, another image of Jack, then of five little figures joined together.

"...North… talked about me… family? Wait, they're not complaining about me being by myself, are they?"

Sandy nodded. Jack had hit the nail on the head.

The young Guardian groaned, falling back on the soft dreamsand. "Seriously? What do they want from me? It's not like you guys were close before - why now?"

Sandy tried not to laugh. Jack had said nearly the same thing as Bunny.

Jack stood, suddenly. "I just remembered something. Be right back."

Sandy watched in confusion as the teenager flew off. Just as he was idly wondering if he'd been duped, Jack returned. The odd thing was, he was wearing an eyepatch.

"Jaimie gave this to me last Halloween!" Jack said cheerfully. "How does it look?"

Sandy couldn't remember last Halloween. The year after Pitch's downfall, they'd all been busy rebuilding their homes, regaining believers, etc.

He took too long to respond. Jack sighed.

"Well, I like it," he said defensively.

Sandy raised his hands soothingly, trying to indicate he'd meant no harm.

It was then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

Sandy gathered up his sand, transforming it into an airplane - with an extra seat this time.

"What?" Jack said, confused. Then he realized. "Oh, are we going to the North Pole?"

In response Sandy put on his goggle, flying the plane North.

He was relieved when Jack didn't protest. Instead he lazily leaned forward, head on hands as he said, "This is pretty cool, Sandy."


	2. Chapter 2

"Good! You got him!" North boomed as Sandy and Jack flew in.

"Great," Bunny said sarcastically, not looking up from his eggs.

Tooth was busy talking to her fairies, directing them and receiving news. She did, however, glance at Jack and wave.

"So. Now we're all here. Let's talk," North said cheerfully.

No one paid him any attention.

* * *

"Bunny, no eggs."

"Preparations will fall behind, mate!"

"Tooth, hands out of mouth."

"But they're so pretty!"

"Jack, stop freezing the yeti's fur. They complain nonstop."

"..."

"Jack…"

"What? I only froze them a little!"

North sighed. His fellow Guardians were not listening. And Sandy… Sandy was sleeping, so he supposed that was alright.

Wait. They were supposed to be bonding, not just not making trouble.

"Sandy, get up!"

* * *

"Alright," North said finally, when everyone was settled. "Let's talk."

To his dismay, Bunny spoke up. "What's that on your face, frostbite? Fancy yourself a pirate or something?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Haha, very funny kangaroo. No, Jaimie gave it to me last Halloween."

Bunny scoffed. "That was months ago. What're you doing wearing it now?"

The boy pressed a hand to his heart, looking hurt. "Looking cool never goes outta style, Bunny. Being cute and fluffy on the other hand…"

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME CUTE?!"

North sighed as they started going at each other.

To his surprise, it is Sandy who breaks them up.

As per usual, with an elf.

The unusual thing about it was that the elf was not shaken, but rather thrown.

Into Bunny's face.

Jack instantly started laughing. "He got you, cottontail!"

"What was that for?" Bunny said incredulously.

Sandy formed an image of a clock ticking.

"I am not wasting time!" Bunny said indignantly. "I am…"

"We are trying to conduct meeting, Bunny," North said, choosing to cut in before things go downhill once more. "But since we make no progress, let's have dinner, then cookies. Sound good?"

Tooth looked up from her fairies. "Don't forget to floss!" she blurted out.

When they all stared at her, she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry - all I heard was cookies. What?"

* * *

Soon they were all seated at a large table, a feast spread out before them. North, Bunny, Santa, and Sandy are all enjoying the food.

"Why do you not eat?" North asked when he noticed Jack hasn't touched anything.

Jack blinked, then grinned. "Not hungry."

North held out a cookie. "Eat."

Jack's grin wavered slightly, but he replied, "Not hungry."

Bunny glanced up, chewing on a rabbit. "Sure you aren't, mate. Just eat already, will you?"

"No."

This solemn statement caught all of their attention, something Jack clearly hadn't intended to happen.

"I mean… I ate. With… Jaimie. He'd slipped me food. So… I'm full."

The lie was so obvious none of them acknowledged it. If anything, North grabbed another cookie and was now holding two towards the young Guardian.

"If you make me eat more than I can handle, I'll throw up."

North put one cookie back. "Just eat one, Jack. To save us the worry."

Sandy nodded vigorously.

They all saw Jack's eyes twitch - he'd removed the eyepatch earlier, so they saw both reactions - but the boy took it and nibbled on it slightly.

"Swallow, mate," Bunny said, smirking. It was plain to see he was enjoying the young Guardian's discomfort. Jack shot a scowl before he took a large bite.

Instantly he gagged, barely managing to swallow.

"What's wrong?" Tooth cried.

Jack laughed weakly. "Your… cookies are terrible, North. Which yeti made them?"

"Phil," North said, eyeing the boy. "And he is good cook. What is wrong?"

Jack shrugged, then protested as the half-eaten cookie was snatched from his hand. "Hey!"

Bunny was the culprit, breaking off the unbitten part of the cookie and tasting it.

Slowly he turned to Jack, one eyebrow raised. "This tastes just fine, mate. What, do you just not like cookies or something?"

Jack was still for a moment.

"Yeah. I don't like sweet things."

"Then why did you not tell me?" North demanded, now holding out a leg of chicken.

"I thought I only had to eat the cookie!" Jack protested.

North laughed. "You did not finish, Bunny here did. Means you have to eat more."

"Oh, so just because cottontail here took my cookie, now I have to eat chicken? Come on, him eating half the cookie is just as irrelevant as Easter!"

"Hey! Easter is one of the most important holidays of the year!"

"I thought Christmas was the most important. Right, North?"

"Christmas is most important!"

"North! Don't agree with frostbite here!"

"Why not? Is true!"

Tooth and Sandy watched as the three got caught up in their own world.


	3. Chapter 3

"In the end, we didn't do anything!" Jack laughed, once more sitting with Sandy at night. A day had passed, and by the time dinner had ended, even North didn't seem to think it was worth trying to salvage the meeting.

Sandy sent out another tendril of sand, grinning as he too recalled the meeting.

"But man, I'm surprised Tooth can eat like that. I mean…"

Jack's tone changed suddenly on those last two words. Sandy glanced at him, but Jack was looking at the moon thoughtfully. "I meant," the boy said finally, "that being the queen of dental floss, I was surprised she would eat so much."

Sandy let it go, smiling at Jack's comment.

Still, he noticed how Jack was subtly avoiding looking at Sandy again.

Sandy eventually decided to push a little, forming a question mark.

He knew Jack deliberately misinterpreted it when the sprite said, "No, I didn't think it was strange."

Exasperated, Sandy formed a cookie, then another question mark.

"I don't like sweets."

Sandy stared at Jack.

And Jack, for whatever reason, caved. Probably because he liked the Guardian of Dreams more than any of the others.

Why? Well, Sandy wasn't pushy.

"Alright," Jack said eventually. He scratched his head, looking sheepish. "I don't like… human food."

Sandy formed an image of a question mark, confused.

"I don't like human food because it tastes like ash," Jack explains.

Sandy formed three question marks.

Jack laughed. A poem falls from his lips, sounding odd as his tone changes into something more formal than what Sandy is used to hearing from the boy.

 _Faerie food thou hast stolen_

 _Reap what thou hast sowed_

 _Taste naught but ash from thy food_

' _Til thou hast returned what is owed_

Sandy blinked. There were only so many times he could form question marks, so he didn't bother this time, settling for a still-confused expression.

"I…" Jack stopped.

Then he grinned, suddenly, a mischievous smile that made the Sandman worry.

The Guardian of Fun stood. "Find me if you can!" he laughed, flying off too quickly for Sandy to catch him.

* * *

"What? Food like ashes in mouth?" North repeated disbelievingly.

Sandy nodded.

"But what's that nonsense about faerie food?" Bunny asked.

At that, Tooth frowned. "My food doesn't do that!" she protested. She hesitated, thinking. "Wait… I think I've heard of this before."

Three pairs of eyes turned to her. "What?" North asked.

She nodded. "If I can… Can I borrow your library?"

North obliged, and she zipped out.

A few minutes later she zipped in, muttering furiously among her fairies. "We think it's the Queen of Faeries," Tooth said firmly.

"Queen of Fairies? Like you?" Bunny said incredulously.

Sandy formed an image of a tooth, then a question mark.

"I'm the Tooth Fairy," Tooth said. "Faerie, f-a-e-r-i-e, is a different kind of being. Like… you know in the poem Jack said, it had Old English?"

"Is that what that drivel was?" Bunny muttered.

"The Faerie Queen is basically the… the overseer of all those sorts of legends. You know, with the Unseelie Court and Seelie Court, salt around the windows, that kind of stuff…"

North leaned over to Sandy. "She is crazy," he whispered.

Sandy frowned. It was a real, genuine issue they were dealing with, after all. North should take Tooth seriously.

He waved, for once getting their attention. Sandy formed an image of a snowflake.

"Yep, that's me."

They all looked up to see Jack perched on one of the windows.

He looked like himself - white hair, blue eyes, pale hands playing with his staff.

However…

His hood was up, casting shadows on his face. His stance was feral, his grin thin and long. The image gave them shivers up their spines.

"Jack Frost. Or so you'd think?" He laughed. It wasn't maniacal, or out of control. But it was cold and terrifying in it's normality, it's abnormality.

"I really like you guys." His laughter stilled, his gaze fixed upon them.

"Find me if you can," he said cheerfully. The wind swept him away.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack sighed, landing on a tree branch.

Then he scratched his face, groaning.

"Why did I do that?" he complained loudly, collapsing against the tree trunk. "Although…" He started to chuckle lightly. "Their faces were totally worth it! That was fu…"

He frowned.

"No, that wasn't fun."

The boy hesitated, looking up at the night sky. "Faeries come and gather round, from hollow hills beneath the ground… Faeries go and call your kin to come to me who's caused a sin…"

The air around him shimmered.

"Frost!"

The lights went out instantly just as North's sleigh came into view. Bunny, though clutching the edges in terror, was yelling angrily at the suddenly amused frost spirit.

"What were you thinking, leaving us like that? Look frostbite, if you…"

Jack didn't bother listening to the rest, instead flashing the four a smile. It was a normal one, a cheerful grin that belonged on the Guardian of Fun.

"FIND ME IF YOU CAN!" he yelled gleefully, before dropping to the ground.

He started running.

Jack Frost didn't usually run, often relying on the wind to fly.

But he thought it would be fun to try hide on the ground for once. You could only hide in a cloud for so long, after all.

He realized it was a bad idea when the ground opened up, and Bunny came out, grabbing Jack by the hood. "Now look, you gumby," Bunny said, irritated, "How about you stop messing around and…"

"I'm not messing around," Jack said, laughing. "We need to have a little game before we decide the winner, only then can we reward them with a prize."

He twisted around to face Bunny. "Pitch Black was an excellent example. The game's players were him, the Nightmares, the Guardians, and me. The goal of the game was for one side to be destroyed. Then the reward - peace - was won."

Jack smiled. It was eerie, his matter-of-fact tone coupled with the mischievous grin.

"Right…" Bunny frowned. "Look, stop running and explain, will you? Then we can help you."

"Alright. That'll be your reward!" Jack said, laughing once more. "Remember? The goal is to find me."

"And we have."

Jack frowned. "Look, cottontail, you haven't found me yet."

He smirked as he slipped out of the Guardian's grasp. Giving Bunny a salute, he was carried away by the wind.

Bunny took a step forward, intending to open a rabbit hole and follow. He nearly slipped, though, having not noticed that the ground left by Jack had been frosted.

He swore before he realized the patterns had been deliberately made into words.

And unfortunately, it looked like Bunny had ruined quite a few of them.

The Guardian tried to read what was left, but gave up. "Gah!" Bunny thumped the ground in frustration. "This makes no sense!"

"What makes no sense, Bunny? Where is Jack?"

Bunny looked up.

"Oh, hey North."

* * *

After explaining the situation North had gone to work salvaging the frost, using his tools to try and clear up whatever message Jack had left.

In a few minutes, he was done.

"Could not fix all," he admitted, "but did pretty good, no?"

Tooth offered to read the message aloud for the others.

 _Where over land is beneath ice_

 _Where happened a young boy's vice_

 _[ smudged ] found in open hand_

 _Find me [ smudged ]_

They were all silent as they stared at the ice. Sandy formed a question mark, speaking for all of them. Suddenly Tooth said, "Wait a minute!" She dove beneath the bushes near the frost, re-emerging with a tooth. "This is one of Jack's!"

"From when he was mortal?" North asked.

She nodded. "Do you think he left it behind as a clue?"

Bunny scoffed. "Some clue, left under a bloody bush."

Tooth looked down at the tooth in her hands. "Oh…" she said softly. "This one has only one memory…"

"Which is it?" North asked. Sandy tilted his head.

She sighed. "Of the time when he became Jack Frost. Before, he was Jackson Overland…"

"Hold on a second," Bunny said. "His name's Overland?"

Tooth nodded. "Yes. Why?"

Rolling his eyes, the Guardian of Hope pointed a paw towards the riddle. "It says here, 'over land.' Ain't that supposed to mean something?"

Tooth fluttered excitedly. "Oh my gosh! Yes! And 'beneath ice' is…"

Suddenly she sobered, her eyes sad. "Where he drowned…"

They were silent.

"Tell us whole story," North finally urged her.

She hesitated, then explained, "You see, Jack died in the lake when he saved his sister. He… well, that's when Manny made him immortal, like the rest of us."

"A lake?" Bunny said incredulously. "The one in Burgess?"

Tooth nodded.

Then she added, "The ice was thin, but they went out anyway. That might be 'a young boy's vice,' or that line might refer to something else entirely…"

"Then we go," North said decisively. "Jack is counting on us, no?"

* * *

"...I thought you said he was turned into an immortal."

"He was!"

"Tooth, he is still here."

"But I don't understand! I saw it in the memories, why would he possibly…"

"Confused?"

All four looked up from the frozen lake to see Jack. He smiled, hovering a moment longer before dropping to the ice, walking forward.

"Yep, you saw my memories, Tooth," Jack said. His tone was as usual, but slightly bitter. "Well, when I was mortal, anyway. But no one bothers with the memories of immortals… and so much can happen over 300 years, you know?"

He stopped, smiling. Below his feet was another Jack - only, instead of a boy grinning from beneath his hood, the Jack below the ice was cold, still, his brown cloak frozen into ripples around him.

"Found me," Jack said, still smiling. "I suppose you've won that explanation then."


	5. Chapter 5

"Jack! I was so worried about you!"

Tooth was the first one to move, flying quickly towards Jack. "Ah, wait…" he started to say, noticing, but he was too late - Tooth collapsed to the ground.

"Tooth! Are you alright?" North said, rushing to her.

Jack watched them, a chuckle bursting out him. "I'm sorry," he apologized, still laughing, "Maybe I should have told you first. The faeries have gotten rather protective of me."

"Protective? Faeries?" Bunny said, confused.

Jack smiled, saying laughingly, "Confusion seems to follow thee. Perhaps clairvoyance comes from me?"

"I can't understand a bloody word you're saying!" Bunny said, irritated.

The winter sprite shrugged. "What can I do? They said this was the only way for you to see."

"See what?" North asked.

"The faeries!" Jack said, as if it were obvious.

The change was subtle - it was as if the small, shimmering lights surrounding Jack had always been there, and only now did the Guardians notice them.

"So cute!" Tooth squealed.

Jack blinked. "Not the reaction I expected… though maybe I should've."

"Explain, mate," Bunny snapped, "Now."

"Don't be in such a rush, cottontail!" Jack laughed. He looked down at the Jack beneath the ice, looking thoughtful. Then the sprite knelt, brushing a hand against the frozen lake.

"About maybe… ten years or so after my death, there was a girl. I didn't recognize her then, but she was my little sister, Pippa. I was playing with her - she was ice skating, always loved doing that - when I made it too slippery and she fell."

He sighed. "I can't make things melt. I'm a winter sprite, you know? It's like… Like Bunny making a flower wither, or Sandy making a Nightmare. It just can't be done."

Jack looked up at them. "But I didn't mean to make it that slippery. Just thick enough so no one would fall through. So instead she fell on top, and her head split open, and she was… bleeding…"

"But you know," Jack continued, "there was no one for me to go to. The moon wouldn't speak to me, and the people wouldn't be able to hear my cries…"

"That's when she heard me. The first one. She made me a deal, and unthinkingly, I took it. I don't regret it, even now."

Jack laughed. "But when I started to realize you guys deserve the truth, I thought maybe we could play a game."

"Wait, mate," Bunny interrupted, "who's she? What deal?"

"Eh?" Jack said, surprised. "I thought you figured it out. The Queen of Faeries, of course. She fed Pippa some faerie food to save her life. But when I found out what that did, she offered to let Pippa experience human food properly in return for my own death, in addition to eating some faerie food myself."

North frowned. "Is… confusing."

"Right?" Jack agreed. "But she enjoys games too, and what's more entertaining than a guy who's died twice?"

The shimmering lights collected behind him, and Bunny swore he heard high-pitched laughter.

Jack waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, I guess our game is over, so… We're done here? Right?" He turned to the lights, which flickered before fading.

He then turned to the Guardians, grinning. "Well, that was fun!"

"No it wasn't!" Tooth practically yelled. "That was horrible! You kept that to yourself?"

Jack exhaled. "Tooth, I wasn't hiding it. It just never occurred to me to mention it." He held out his hand, the palm empty. "Nothing found in open hand," he said cheerfully. "Find me, Jackson Overland."

"So, North," he said, turning to the big Russian man.

"Is this what you wanted when you wanted us to get to know each other?"


End file.
